Speech Type: Others

By: Others

I take this opportunity to welcome you to Nairobi, Kenya on behalf of the Vice Chancellor and on my capacity as the Principal, College of Architecture and Engineering. I welcome you to this University which is among the best in Africa.

University of Nairobi is headed by Prof. George Magoha who is the Vice Chancellor. He is assisted by four Deputy Vice Chancellors: DVC (AA), DVC (A&F), DVC (SA) and DVC (RPE).

The University has six Colleges and this College is one of them. I note that participants of this conference are high profiled people from Europe and Africa: Italy, France, Ethiopia, Tanzania and hosts from Kenya. We feel honoured to host you and share with you matters of development and academic issues.

The key topic of this conference; Energy and Agro-food are key areas which developing countries have identified and rely on as spring board to launch food security in their economies. Energy and Agro-food have in the past been approached in a conventional way as source of livelihoods; food for rural areas.

I hope that this conference will deliberate on how biogas, solar, food and water can be enriched beyond the current practice and have a greater impact on society, especially in the rural areas.

I also note that you plan to deliberate on developing teaching modules for post graduate students in the African Universities. It is expected that the proposed modules will greatly improve the existing curricula and make them more relevant and practical oriented. By involving various stakeholders including prospective employers of our graduates, you will be addressing some of the challenges of the existing curricula.

I wish you a good and lively deliberation in the next two days. I hope that you will also create some time to venture out of the conference hall to see our facilities in the University of Nairobi and also visit the City. There are many hotels around the University such as the Norfolk Hotel which you may also wish to visit. Nairobi is relatively safe and you should not be overly alarmed by what you read in the press. Please take precautionary steps just as you would take in any other City in the world.

SPEECH BY PROF. B.N.K. NJOROGE, THE PRINCIPAL, COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI DURING THE IAEA NDT(NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING ) TRAINING COURSE OF TRAINERS, 11-22ND MARCH, 2013 AT THE INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, CONFERENCE ROOM.

The International Atomic Energy Agency National Liaison Officer (NLO), National Council for Science & Technology (NCST),

The Director, Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology,

The Chairman, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering Department,

The Chairman, Civil and Construction Engineering,

INST Staff Members and Course Participants,

All invited Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Vice-Chancellor and the rest of the University community, I warmly welcome you all to the University of Nairobi and especially so to the College of Architecture and Engineering and to the Institute of Nuclear Science& Technology, the hosts of the training course.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

One of the core mandate of the University of Nairobi is to develop and disseminateknowledge. Thehosting of this training course in NDT concepts will assist us achieve our primaryobjectives, for which we are truly committed.

One of Kenya’s developmental long-term objectives is “to have globally competitive quality education training and research for sustainable development in the education sector according to International Standards (ISO) and to be competitive on international market - where strategies identified include; expansion of university enrolments, that emphases science and technology courses and revise of universities and technical institutions curricula and to increase funding to enable institutions to support envisaged activities. The Kenya government recognizes the role of nuclear technology in providing sustainable social and economic development in general.

It is against this background, that a training program in peaceful applications of nuclear technologies was started in 1979 at the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology in the University of Nairobisupported by the IAEA amongstothers supportedat various government institutions of research and training in the country.

In general, our Country Program Framework(CPF) priority areas of IAEA support are derived from our national policy documents and the MDGs, namely; Vision 2030, Strategic Plans , Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation(ERS), all which have contributed significantly to the country's economic recovery growth , for example from a low 0.6% to 6.1% in 2006.

The 2011-2016 Country Program Framework (CPF) for near and medium term technical cooperation with the IAEA identifies the role of nuclear technologies, specifically NDT testing methods in the development of its industrial sector; construction and building; and mining and mineral processing as significant and has therefore committed an estimated budgetary of $18m over the 5 year period cycle in the developmental of this sector .

In the Vision 2030, for example, there is a major commitment in pursuit of an average GDP growth of 10% annually after 2012. In this effort, it is expected that promotion of agricultural productivity and a revitalized industrial sector and dynamic small scale enterprises will combine to contribute to the creation of new jobs needed to absorb the largely increased work force. In the industrial sector, quality products are a requirement for profitability. It is therefore important to note that among other tests recognized for quality product assessments and control, NDT plays a vital role due to non-impairment of the material. In addition to product quality and safety testing NDT can also assist in product development, screening or sorting imports;monitoring, improving or controlling manufacturing processes;verifying proper processing such as heat treatment; and verifying proper assembly.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Regarding human resource, there are more than 1000 trained personnel at operators level practicing in the country. They are fromgovernmentdepartments ((Ministry of Works) and private sector.

Nonetheless, there are no formal recognized NDT training institutions in the country. This IAEA supported project(KEN 1004) on NDT applications at the Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (INST), University of Nairobi, aims to; enhance capacity building, promote and popularize NDT technologies in addition to augment available NDT facilities in the country in areas of materialstesting in response to industrial development.

What does the project aim to achieve?

1) To establish well equipped NDT center of excellence;

2)To have several trained personnel in various NDT applications methods;

3) To offer Training and research facilitation to university engineering students;

4) To offer specialized service provision in civil and construction industry among others.

Targeted project beneficiaries

Students in the School of Engineering and INST

Building, manufacturing and construction industry; roads, airports, bridges, dams and building etc and in the manufacturing sector;

Government departments (KEBs) and other quality control institutions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

NDT test methods are slowly being integrated in the engineering curricular.The Institute of Nuclear Science & Technologyoffers basic principles of the various NDT methods in 1st year of MSc (Nuclear Science), SNS 402: Applications of Nuclear Techniques.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is our first group training for this project. The Institute plans to host other Group trainings in subsequent project activities, as one way of training more personnel in applications of NDT test methods, targeting approximately100-200 trainees per year.

This Group training was organized with the assistance of the IAEA and NCST. The IAEA has kindly provided the services of NDT consultant, Mr. IsaacEinav, who has several years of experience in NDT and QA and research, NDT practical applications, certifications, research and training. He has previously worked for the IAEA as NDT Technical Officer (TO) in 2001-2008. This training is intended to “train the trainers” for upto NDT level 1 and 2 in two NDT methods namely; Liquid PenetrantInspection (LPI) and Magnetic Testing methods (MT) based on the requirements of the IAEA TECDOC 628 and ISO 9712: 2012 with specific requirements of IAEA for time and schedule of 80hrs between 11-22nd March, 2013. Course participants are drawn from Government research institutions, the School of Engineering, University of Nairobi and the private sector.

Mr. Brisset’s missionon the 29th October to 2nd November 2012, specifically, formed part of the planned project implementation activities for 2012 year, namely; to review the project work plans and progresses; to initiate harmonization of NDT activities between the University of Nairobi and Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBs) and to review organization of the NDT training system between the academic and certification aspects in the country. The mission was successful; resulted in increased additional procurement funding, increased group trainings , following reduced Fellowships training and Scientific visits, over the project cycle after revision of work plans. Our planned project implementation activities were clearly understood by all stakeholders as being complementary and supportive to capacity building in the country of earlier initiatives at the KeBs for long term sustenance. A memorandum of understanding between the Institute (University of Nairobi) and KeBs on collaborative activities is under preparations.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To date, the following equipment has beenprocured: 1) Ultrasonic Testing equipment –flaw detector and thickness gauge including the calibration blocks and 2) basic components of Visual Testing and 3) Penetrant Testing all valued at € 19,846/04. Additional, complementary testing methods equipment in the building and construction industriesare due for delivery in the course of 2013.

We are grateful to the assistance provided by the IAEA in our desire to establish a Non-Destructive Testing Laboratory for training, research and service provision of NDT applications at the University of Nairobi. However, additional funding will be required to develop necessary human resource and for physical facilities.

Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to this training and look forward to improved performances for effective promotion of NDT methods in industry and at your workplaces following this training. Thank you all. God bless you.

PRINCIPAL’S SPEECH TO THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS – WEDNESDAY 22ND MAY, 2013

VENUE: E001 LECTURE THEATRE

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen. I want to start off by welcoming the Freshers to the University of Nairobi and to the College of Architecture and Engineering. I want to start by congratulating you all for making the grade to join our prestigious College.

I want to assure you that you are in the right place. This Lecture Hall is the traditional orientation ground for the College. I was oriented in this same hall as a fresher more than 30 years ago. Others who have also been oriented here is Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Nairobi, Prof. Gichaga, who is currently the Chancellor in JKUAT, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Musalia Mudavadi, Prof. C.M. Kiamba former Vice-Chancellor of this University and former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher Education and Engineer S. Kamau, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Transport among others.

I will first explain the structure of this University. The University is headed by the Chancellor; the current Chancellor is Dr. Joseph Wanjui. Below the Chancellor there is the Vice-Chancellor (VC) who is the Administrative head of the University. Professor George Magoha is the Vice-Chancellor and as you have seen in your orientation week programme, he will address you tomorrow afternoon. There are four Deputy Vice-Chancellors; DVC Academic Affairs, DVC Administration and Finance, DVC Student Affairs and DVC Research, Production and Extension.

There are six Colleges in the University; College of Architecture and Engineering, College of Humanities and Social Sciences is also at the Main Campus with other Campuses in Lower Kabete, Parklands, Kisumu and Mombasa. College of Health Sciences is located at Kenyatta National Hospital while as the College of Biological and Physical Sciences is located at Chiromo. College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences is located at Upper Kabete and College of Education and External Studies is at Kikuyu with regional centres in Mombasa, Kisumu, Kakamega, Nakuru and Nyeri. The Colleges are headed by a Principal.

The College has three Schools and one Institute. I want to start introducing the Deans and Directors present here today. The acting Dean in the School of Engineering is Prof. S.K Mwea. The Dean School of The Built Environment is Prof. Tom Anyamba. The Director, School of The Arts and Design is Dr. Walter Onyango. The Director Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology is Mr. David Maina. The Deans will in turn introduce the Chairmen of Departments and other Academic Members of Staff present. Thereafter, the other College administrators and Heads of Sections will also introduce themselves accordingly.

The School of Engineering is located where we are, with several departmental building around the premises. It has five departments; Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Department of Environmental and Biosystems Engineering, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, and Department of Geospatial and Space Technology.

The School of The Built Environment and The School of Arts and Design are both located in the ADD Building off State House road, opposite the YMCA. The departments in the School of The Built Environment are Department of Architecture and Building Science, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and Department of Real Estate and Construction Management. My office and that of the College Registrar are located on the 2nd Floor of the Main Administration Block.

Moving on to academics, I want to encourage you to work very hard and get focused from the onset. Where you have come from you have been used to achieving grades of 80% and above. I want to inform you that the University examination pass-mark is 40%. This might sound very low and achievable that you might relax, but let me tell you that some may experience difficulties to attain this pass mark. Past records to student performance in the College in examinations are available. Failure to achieve this pass mark could lead to discontinuation of studies from the University. I therefore urge you once again to take your studies seriously and work hard. Let me not dwell on this as you will be given more information this afternoon in your respective School addresses by the Deans and Directors and also from your respective departments.

I want to believe that some of you have come to Nairobi for the very first time and that some of you have left your parents’ homes and you will be living on your own for the very first time. In the University, unlike the high schools, we do not have morning assemblies and you will have to organize yourselves. I want to urge you to take care of yourselves, take responsibility for your actions as there are many temptations in your students’ life. Avoid drugs and practice abstinence as you are still very young and I don’t expect you to be in any relationships.

There are many religious institutions you can go to worship. There are also many good organizations that you can join and positive extracurricular activities you can engage in such as swimming, athletics, ball games and others. The College has a games tutor who will guide you accordingly.

For those who fall into social problems, the College has an Assistant Dean of Students, Mrs. Margaret Mumera who will give you the necessary guidance and counseling. Her Office is located in the Dean’s Office, School of Engineering.

The University is well aware that the accommodation in the University is limited. For those seeking accommodation in hostels outside the University should seek guidance from University Halls Officers to secure safe accommodation.

You are reminded that students should always pay their fees on time to avoid interruption of their studies.

Finally, I want to wish you all the best as you start preparing for your professional careers.

Speech Type: Chairman of Department

By: Symposium

Environmental & Biosystems Students Association held its annual Sports Day on 20th, April, 2013 at Upper Kabete Campus. The Sports Day is an important event in the calendar of the department since it brings together all the students of the department to interact and know one another given that the course is offered in two different campuses of the University of Nairobi and so in most cases, the junior students do not have a chance to interact with the senior students of the department. Participants included students from the department of Environmental & Biosystems Engineering. The event was also graced by the patron of the association, Dr. F. N. Gichuki and the chairman of the department, Eng. Dr. Ayub Gitau.

Speech to Participants attending Kenya Institute of Planners (KIP) 3rd Annual Conference on “Urbanization and Planning in the Context of Devolved System of Governance in Kenya”

The Chief Guest and Key Note Speaker - Mr Kinuthia Wamwangi, Chairman of Transition Authority; distinguished conference speakers; representatives of conference sponsors; participants from national government and corporations; participants from county governments; representatives of private sector and academia; NGO representatives; representatives from the media; Ladies and Gentlemen

I welcome you all to KIP 3rd Annual Conference, 2015. In doing this l take this opportunity to sincerely acknowledge the habitable surrounding where the conference is taking place. Driving on Nairobi - Mombasa section of the road from Nairobi through Mlolongo to Machakos turn off, you notice tremendous changes taking place in this part of Machakos County. In my judgment the new residential and business buildings, roads, electrification and many more are indicators of calculated steps to build a momentum of social and economic development in the county. I am informed this observation is true in other parts of this great county. KIP governing council, therefore, made the right decision to organize the conference in Machakos County to share and experience the good feel factor which is now associated with residence in the County.

Chief Guest, Ladies and Gentlemen, the theme of the conference “Urbanization and Planning in the Context of Devolved Governance System in Kenya”, which is the centre piece of this 3rd Conference gives the Institute a moment of reflection on achievements and challenges since KIP organized a very successful 2nd Conference in Kisumu City in November 2013. Some achievements relevant to positioning KIP as a professional body for planners are worth mentioning before I indicate what l sees as overall challenges for planners and planning in the future.

First a new Governing Council was elected in 2014 in accordance with new KIP Constitution. l was re-elected for a second and final term as Chairman of the Institute. Secondly, KIP adopted its new Constitution last year, 2014. Among others, the position of trustees of the Institute and regional offices were established to infuse relevance of the Institute to devolved system of governance in Kenya and best practices globally. Third, a five-year strategic plan - 2014 – 2018 of the Institute was launched. The annual conference is flagship activity in the plan. Fourth, KIP was mentioned in positive light in the media throughout the period. This has created awareness about KIP’s role as professional body for planners in Kenya. The psyche of the Kenyan public, government officials and private sector, non-state constituencies and international agencies now have better corporate image of what KIP stand for. Fifth, KIP was represented on several fora which include policy making, legislation and University planning curriculum among others.

However, one area the Institute has yet to come to terms with is the direction repeal of The Physical Planning Act (PPA) 1996 has taken between December 2013 and Thursday 22nd October 2015; and lack of taking any steps to demonstrate urgency, honesty and commitment to repeal the Physical Planners Registration Act (PPRA) 1996. This problem will create uncertainty in the planning industry; erode confidence in the job market for an increasing number of planners graduating from planning schools in Kenya. The gap this problem is surely creating makes the future of the planning profession in the era of devolved governance in Kenya - all the more uncertain. Simply put an over-arching new planning law is urgently required to unify performing of the planning functions by the national and county governments. The law must also clarify cities, municipalities, towns and local market centres as territories and jurisdictions of population and economic concentration in the counties. These require national policy and planning norms as well as collective effort of local communities to inform planning for changes and development in order to influence resulting urban settlements and economy, social and cultural institutions as well as governance systems.

The Chief Guest, Ladies and Gentlemen, when I read an advertising feature in a daily newspaper on Thursday 22nd October 2015, that The Physical Planning Bill, 2015, now, before National Assembly is advancing the concept of physical planning as an ideology and philosophy of planning under devolved system of Government, I took unusual step; looked at my “planning side mirror” to retrace Kenya’s footsteps to 1996 when PPA and PPRA came into force; then far back in 1966 when for the first time a standalone entity, “Physical Planning Department” was established as a planning advisory arm of the “central” (not “national”) government; then l tilted the “planning side mirror” to the venue of the 3rd Annual Conference of the 16 years old KIP in Machakos Town on 3rd December 2015. I looked at the faces of participants; a pose to exchange knowing looks with a few followed – some from the transformed “Central” to “National” Government; others from Counties and still others from academia, private sector firms and a plethora of bodies with planners on their establishments.

I then trained my planning telescope 20 to 35 years, i.e. 2035-2050 period and drew two conclusions informed by the following five: (1) growing urbanization, (2) growing conversion of rural land to urban use, (3) growing blurring of ethically informed planning practice, (4) growing menace of intellectually malnourished model(s) of policymaking and implementation; and (5) growing lack of accountability in the culture of governance in society.

Conclusion One; that Kenya’s effort to place planning under new governance dispensation is characterized by tensions between two well-known legal-organizational based models of public sector corporate bodies. The first model is the Sectoral Administrative Model (SEDAMO) operational in pre-PPA era, 1966 to 1996. The second model is Semi-Legal Sectoral Administrative Model (SELSAMO) which informed “Physical Planning” during PPA/PPRA era covering 16 years, 1996 to 2010.

These two models, Ladies and Gentlemen situate the design of organization for planning in departmental offices that rely exclusively on wide discretionary administrative and executive authority of these offices, and less on rational procedures and processes informed by statutory planning provisions. An underlying omission on replacing SEDAMO with embracing SELSAMO is that the Central Government designed PPA/PPRA to serve the functions of physical planning within a centralized and sectoralized organization for planning, and as well decision making on implementation. Not even token ideological/philosophical shift on the focus of planning was introduced at the time given obvious growth of Kenya’s total population, the proportion of urbanizing population and threat of these two to land resources, health of human settlements and ecological sustainability of Kenya’s natural resource-base.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 sought to change and revolutionize these old models.

Conclusion Two is that a newspaper advertising feature on 22th October 2105 on “The Physical Planning Bill, 2015” sent a clear message that the SELSAMO model of planning is in Kenya to stay. This has ignored the implied underlining in the Constitution of Kenya 2010 that, Kenya has to introduce a new model of planning to encapsulate new realities of devolved system of governance and the role of participation in plan preparation and implementation in public realm. It is therefore not surprising that the advertisement failed to state the fate of PPRA. This negates the reality that there are already innovations in the implementation of the Constitution to borrow from. The new Judiciary and parliament of Kenya have created a new Supreme Court, and new Parliament (Senate and National Assembly), respectively.

The new Second model is a hybrid of SELSAMO model and Territorial-Jurisdictional Legal Model (TEJULEMO) and is known as Sub-national legal-jurisdictional model (SUNALJUMO). SUNALJUMO model encapsulates functions, roles and responsibility of extra-county planning offices. The model has also strong territorial inclination to locality and sense of community/ communal place. The model seeks to clarify planning outcomes in addition to other benefits and is the model Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides for. Synchronized planning functions at the national and county levels, and in towns and at rural grassroots are key tenets in the needed legislation and in designing organization for planning under the hybrid model. Professional ethics, a heritage of strong roots in relevant curriculum for planning education and mentorship as a principle of progressive growth in professional competence of planner’s expertise are the hallmark of the type of planner KIP envisions will practice planning under devolved system of governance.

The Chief Guest, Ladies and Gentlemen, the repeal of PPA 1996 and by implication PPRA 1996 along the hybrid model is not possible at the moment. Making the model the basis of new planning law requires a critical mass of drivers of the PPA/PPRA repeal process; to acquire deeper insights of where Kenya’s planning has come from, and where the new Constitution dictate Kenya place planning under devolved governance system from the year 2010, hence. Also, insights on managing dialoguing interested actors in enacting the new law along the hybrid model require a reflective, passionate and visionary leadership.

In Conclusion I welcome you to this conference on “Urbanization and Planning under Devolved System of Governance in Kenya”. I wish you all fruitful discussions that will lead to recommendations and resolutions that will lead to establishing and nurturing of growth of requisite institutions and organizations that will resuscitate and re-invigorate the planning of Kenya’s tomorrow, today; and developing needed heritage of planning principles and practices for sustainable planning in quest of >>> Making Kenya A Planning Society <<<